Barrow and the Lucky Aurora Babies

"Go north young man." A stranger once told me this long ago while giving me directions to the nearest White Castle. This idea somehow feels more romantic now, discussing my time on top of the world, closer to Santa himself than the nearest White Castle cheeseburger. In the United States, if you were to follow this good Samaritan's fast food advice to the extreme, you would end up in lovely Barrow, the northernmost point of Alaska / the entire US. Barrow: home of the state champion Barrow Whalers high school football team, the most expensive Ocean Spray cranberry juice in the country, and the furthest north Mexican restaurant in the world. It's time now for us to take off our steel toed shoes necessary in Deadhorse and slip on our most comfortable pair of seal skin boots (more proper footwear in Barrow). Go on, get your seal skin boots....no those are Crocs. Those are sandals. Those are mittens. Whatever, just keep reading little fashionistas. And keep those mittens buttoned to your jacket.

From Mike's Bi-Polar Adventure

From the moment I stepped foot in Barrow, it was totally covered in snow. Not a particularly stunning piece of information until I mention that I arrived at the end of September. Yes, Barrow is cold and yes Barrow is dark. In fact that movie 40 Days of Night, where all the vampires in the Arctic wait for the sun to set permanently and then go on a killing spree for 2 months, was based on life in Barrow. Besides the cold, the dark, and the vampires, Barrow is actually a beautiful place. It is a city of about 5000 people, 4000 of which are native Inupiat (which means the people in their language, Inupiaq). The culture is authentic and as vibrant as is reasonable for people who decided to turn left to reach even colder weather when they crossed the land bridge all those years ago. Thousands of years later, you can still hear murmurings of folks saying "we should have turned right".

From Mike's Bi-Polar Adventure

So what's it like to live in Barrow, you ask? Well let me start by saying that the food is expensive. And I mean seriously expensive. Have you ever paid $40 for dinner at a Chinese restaurant? And P.F. Chang's totally doesn't count. That's Asian fusion, duh. Walking into a grocery store for the first time is an enlightening experience. You quickly realize why flying food out to remote places is a horrible idea. Things like this happen....

From Mike's Bi-Polar Adventure

And it doesn't stop there. Ever paid a buck for one fresh strawberry? Or how about $8 for a gallon of milk? You'd be hunting whale for sustenance too if it cost you $15 for a pork chop.

Speaking of whales, they're everywhere up here! Well at least various pieces of whales are: a whale skull here, a pile of baleen there, a set of whale jawbones next to the local diner. It's strange really. When I first arrived here, these things were totally stunning. Justifiably so in my opinion. But after a while it became fairly casual. Before my visit to Barrow, I never thought I'd walk by a 12 foot whale skull on the side of the road and not scream like a 12 year old girl who just met the Jonas Brothers.



Though weather is often unforgiving in Barrow, once in a while you are gifted a gem. The clouds will part and the night sky appears in all its grandeur. And then you see it...the natural phenomenon that makes you wonder if that yogurt you just ate was expired...the northern lights. The only way I can describe it is as a rippling curtain of green light moving in slow motion. Anyone who grew up in the 60's will understand. Apparently, Chinese lore claims that if you conceive a child under the northern lights it will lived a blessed life. I don't know about that but it sure made me hungry. Hungry for more northern lights.

From Mike's Bi-Polar Adventure

Tomorrow brings a new day, and a new Arctic experience. Keep your mittens close and your expired yogurt far, far away. Over and out.